Black Friday – Was it peace, love and joy-to-the-world?

Last Wednesday, I stopped by Bella Fleur (a florist in Altamont I love) to pick up my centerpiece for the Thanksgiving table. There was a woman there talking about how excited she was for Black Friday. I must have looked at her sideways because she went on to say that she loves seeing the grandmothers fight. Huh?

On the news I watched people argue over their ‘waiting in line places’ waiting for the stores to open – they were getting into a different kind of holiday spirit than I’m familiar with I guess.

I didn’t leave the homestead – Black Friday scares me.

I guess I understand that there are people who really enjoy the ‘rush’ of Black Friday. For me, looking from the outside in via people-talk and the media, I didn’t see ‘comfort and joy’.

10 Responses

I’m with you! Black Friday is always turkey soup making day at my house. I avoid the stores like the plague! I’ve heard too many stories of people being pushed, shoved, cussed at, AND advertised items being sold out! No thank you!

This is the first year I have ever DONE Black Friday. My SIL wanted to go to Toys R Us at midnight. We got there at 11 and were on WOLF RD the line was so long. By the time the store opened the line was down to Buca Di Beppo and down to the BACK of their parking lot. We got in pretty quickly, only to wait in the electronics line for close to 2 hours. BUT, we were the lucky ones. The regular line was a disaster. None of the clerks really knew what was happening and the line got turned around multiple times. There were some very unhappy people.

Then we got coffee and dropped my SIL at Sears at 3 (opened at 4). Jeff took me over to Target (opened at 5). My SIL joined me at 4:20. I must say, Target has this thing down pat. The line Nazi seemed a little extreme, but it was controlled and organized and we were out in 20 minutes. Then we hit Staples, Walmart, Lowes, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. We met up with my mom at the mall for a bit, then had to go to my MIL’s to deal with Austin who was having some issues. We got that sorted out then went home. I was in bed by 11AM.

It wasn’t horrible, but it took me until today to recover I am too old for all nighters!

I hate shopping at malls and big box stores, so the ‘benefit’ getting in at 4:00AM, whilst I’m still digesting, is lost on me. Dealing with the Target Line Nazi before sun-up would probably push me over the edge.

The usual. The Shop at Noch Fiernan Farm as soon as it opened (10 AM)to get the Christmas wreath, door swags for a few neighbors, and grteens for the planters in the front yard. My years-long Black Friday shopping tradition.
Of course, I had played chauffeur and short-order cook for my son and his friend Eliza who were in from Baton Rouge for the holiday and hankering for the early-bird bargains. Dropped them early-early at Best Buy, did omelets after that, then dropped them later for the Wolf Road end of things. I’ll drive the car for the shopaholics, but don’t expect me to set foot in teh stores!

Two years in a row we participated in “Buy Nothing Day” on the day after Thanksgiving. Well, mostly. We did stop at a craft show last year just before it closed and I bought a stuffed elephant made out of a recycled wool sweater for Jonny. This year, we bought gas Friday night so that we could head over to our in-laws without any delays on Saturday morning.

Both times they were last minute “forgettings” that it was Buy Nothing Day.

As a child, I thought it was awful when people fought over Cabbage Patch Kids dolls in the 80’s and that kind of soured me on the commercial orientation of Christmas.

Also, I give gifts pretty much immediately after I buy or make them so they are always heartfelt and “just for you.” And, you never know when something could happen and you won’t get a chance to give a gift, including simply misplacing the darn thing someplace in the house. So, why wait?

I too believe that Christmas is very commercialized. However, I did partake in Black Friday. This was my first black friday ever. My husband always goes. He has met up with my brother one year, the ladies from his office and this year I went with him. Our kids made lists, of course and we wrote our list from that. We have a lot of people who buy for the kids so we ask the kids to put a few things down. Our kids get 3 presents from Santa, the three is to represent one from each of the wiseman. We give them presents too, usually things they NEED such as PJ’s, sweaters, coats, etc.

We had one destination, Walmart. We compared the flyer to the kids lists and what we had in mind and made a list of our own right on the flyer. The one reason my husband does this is to save money. We are a one income family and need to save where we can. The kids birthdays are in Dec. and Jan. so the list serves as a birthday list as well. We don’t usually buy the kids anything through out the year. We doe buy them things, don’t get me wrong, but they are not spoiled.

My husband walked all around to see where the things were that we wanted. There were pallets and pallets in all of the isles. They were all covered in black plastic so you weren’t really sure what was under them. We parked our cart in one area where we were out of the way and near an area where we wanted several things. As soon as the black plastic was removed from the pallets people went nuts. We got everything on our list except 2 things. We were so happy. My husband was helpful to others and courteous and when he heard ladies asking others where certain things were he offered the answers because he had walked around and scouted things out. They were very unorganized I must say. We asked a 1/2 dozen walmart associates where certain items would be and no one had any idea where anything was. They had towels in the meat section on pallets, it was crazy. There were some pretty mean people there. Some younger women using real foul language around elder people, which was offensive. We watched other ladies carts while they went to get things and then they watched our cart while we went and got stuff. Overall it was a pleasant experience. We were pleasant to people and they were pleasant back to us. The staff was totally clueless and when we rung out we had to watch everything rung up and KNOW the prices because several things rang up wrong and the staff at the registers didn’t evern have the flyers to look at, we had to give them ours that came in the mail! You must have the right attitude to do something like this. We went, got the things on sale we needed and left. Yep, people pushed and shoved and there were long lines and some disappointments but you must expect that if you are doing something like this.

Yuch.
I have always managed to evade this in the past.
But this year we had to bring my daughter to Crossgates at 4am because she works at Old Navy. I hate long lines and aggressive shoppers.
I don’t think anyone really saves money this way. How about getting by with less?

I’m with Teri, fencesitter & Emily. At this stage in my life I don’t go in for big purchases for the holidays, so there’s no point in me going to Walmart to get that $200 flat screen tv. My holidays are more like Ed Flynn’s I guess. I like to make things and give them away. I’m also not a crowd person anymore. (Teri, remember the Springsteen concert at SPAC that we left early because someone peed on my leg and the crowd looked like Germany in 1939? – I think that was the end of crowds for me.) Keepin’ it simple these days.

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